How Shall We Minister to People After the World Trade Tower Terrorism of September 11, 2001?

21 Ways to Comfort Those Who Are Suffering

On the morning of September 11, 2001 terrorists hijacked at
least three commercial planes and flew them into both towers of the
110-story World Trade Center in New York City, and into the
Pentagon in Washington. Within about an hour both towers entirely
collapsed.

As I write, no one dares estimate the loss of life. Fifty
thousand people work in the towers each day, not to mention the
people on the planes and the hundreds of people on the ground
trying to help as the towers fell. The personal and national and
economic impact is incalculable. The nation is in shock.

I wrote most of what follows in response to the Littleton,
Colorado tragedy in April, 1999 when two students killed thirteen
people at Columbine High School and then shot themselves. The
magnitude of yesterday's act is Littleton times five thousand. My
aim in writing was mainly to help the elders of my own church
minister to our people. I revise it and put it out again in the
hope that others might be helped to love people and honor Christ in
this dark and heavy moment of shaking and weeping.

What shall we say about these events in order to honor Christ
and minister to people for their good? Our first decision as a
church was to call for three special services. The banner flying
over these services is: "Sorrow, Self-humbling, and Steady Hope in
our Savior and King, Jesus Christ." You can read in what follows
why all three of these emphases are crucial - sorrow,
self-humbling, and steady hope. You will also see why it is so
important to say Jesus is a Savior and a King at times like
this.

I hope this will serve as a kind of Biblical resource for
theological truth and pastoral care. May the Lord strengthen your
hands and heart in this crucial moment of need.

1. Pray. Ask God for his help for you and for those you want to
minister to. Ask him for wisdom and compassion and strength and a
word fitly chosen. Ask that those who are suffering would look to
God as their help and hope and healing and strength. Ask that he
would make your mouth a fountain of life.

James 1:5. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who
gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given
to him."

Deuteronomy 32:2. "May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech
distil as the dew, as the gentle rain upon the tender grass, and as
the showers upon the herb."

Proverbs 13:14. "The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,
To turn aside from the snares of death."

2. Feel and express empathy with those most hurt by this great
evil and loss; weep with those who weep.

Ecclesiastes 3:1. "There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven . . . A time to
weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. . .
. A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing."

Romans 12:15. "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with
those who weep."

3. Feel and express compassion because of the tragic
circumstances of so many loved ones and friends who have lost more
than they could ever estimate.

John 11:33-35. "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the
Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit
and was troubled, and said, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to
Him, 'Lord, come and see.' Jesus wept."

Luke 19:41-44. "When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city
and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known in this day, even you,
the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from
your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will
throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in
on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your
children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon
another, because you did not recognize the time of your
visitation.'"

Luke 7:11-17. "Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain;
and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large
crowd. Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was
being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow;
and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw
her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, 'Do not weep.'
And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a
halt. And He said, 'Young man, I say to you, arise!' The dead man
sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, 'A
great prophet has arisen among us!' and, 'God has visited His
people!' This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in
all the surrounding district."

4. Take time and touch, if you can, and give tender care to the
wounded in body and soul.

Matthew 8:14-15. "When Jesus came into Peter's home, He saw his
mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. He touched her hand,
and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him."

Mark 1:40-41. "And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and
falling on his knees before Him, and saying, 'If You are willing,
You can make me clean.' Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out
His hand and touched him."

Luke 10:30-37. "Jesus replied and said, 'A man was going down
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they
stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And
by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw
him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when
he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But
a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw
him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his
wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own
beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next
day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and
said, "Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return
I will repay you." Which of these three do you think proved to be a
neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?' And he said,
'The one who showed mercy toward him.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Go
and do the same.'"

5. Hold out the promise that God will sustain and help those
who cast themselves on him for mercy and trust in his grace. He
will strengthen you for the impossible days ahead in spite of all
darkness.

Psalm 34:18. "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves
those who are crushed in spirit."

Isaiah 41:10. "Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for
I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will
uphold you with my victorious right hand."

Psalm 23:4. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your
staff, they comfort me."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who
comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to
comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which
we ourselves are comforted by God."

2 Corinthians 1:8-9. "We do not want you to be unaware,
brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were
burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired
even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves
so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the
dead."

6. Affirm that Jesus Christ tasted hostility from men and knew
what it was to be unjustly tortured and abandoned, and to endure
overwhelming loss, and then be killed, so that he is now a
sympathetic mediator for us with God.

Hebrews 4:15-16. "For we do not have a high priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted [or
"tested" which makes the application larger!] in all things as we
are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to
the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to
help in time of need."

Isaiah 53:3-6. "He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide
their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our
griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we
ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But
He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for
our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone
astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has
caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."

7. Declare that this murder was a great evil, and that God's
wrath is greatly kindled by the wanton destruction of human life
created in his image.

Exodus 20:13. "Thou shalt not murder."

Genesis 9:5-6. "Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every
beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's
brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood,
By man his blood shall
be shed, For in the image of God He made
man."

Deuteronomy 29:24-25. "All the nations will say, 'Why has the
LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?'
Then men will say, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD,
the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought
them out of the land of Egypt.'"

8. Acknowledge that God has permitted a great outbreak of sin
against his revealed will, and that we do not know all the reasons
why he would permit such a thing now, when it was in his power to
stop it.

Deuteronomy 29:29. "The secret things belong to the LORD our
God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever,
that we may observe all the words of this law."

Romans 11:33-37 "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and
unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR
WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT
MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM? For from Him and through Him and to Him
are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."

9. Express the truth that Satan is a massive reality in the
universe that conspires with our own sin and flesh and the world to
hurt people and to move people to hurt others, but stress that
Satan is within and under the control of God.

Job 1:6, 12, 21-22; 2:6-10. "Now there was a day when the sons
of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also
came among them. . . . Then the LORD said to Satan, 'Behold, all
that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on
him.' So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD. . . [After
losing all his possessions and his ten children Job says] 'Naked I
came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The
LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the
LORD. Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. . . .
[After a second meeting in heaven] the LORD said to Satan, 'Behold,
he is in your power, only spare his life.' Then Satan went out from
the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the
sole of his foot to the crown of his head. . . . Then his wife said
to him, 'Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!'
But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women speaks.
Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept
adversity?'"

Job 42:2, 11. "I know that You can do all things, And that no
purpose of Yours can be thwarted. . . . Then all his brothers and
all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and
they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and
comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on
him.

Luke 22:31-32. "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded
permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that
your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again,
strengthen your brothers."

2 Corinthians 12:7-9. "Because of the surpassing greatness of
the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself,
there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to
torment me - to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I
implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has
said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected
in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my
weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."

Compare the following two perspectives on the cause of Jesus'
death.

Luke 22:3-4 "Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot,
belonging to the number of the twelve. And he went away and
discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray
Him to them."

Acts 4:27-28. "Truly in this city there were gathered together
against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to
occur."

10. Express that these terrorists rebelled against the revealed
will of God and did not love God or trust him or find in God their
refuge and strength and treasure, but scorned his ways and his
Person.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-2. "Finally, brethren, pray for us . . .
that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all
have faith."

Galatians 5:6. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through
love."

Galatians 5:16. "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out
the desire of the flesh."

James 4:1-4. "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among
you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your
members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are
envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not
have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because
you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your
pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with
the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a
friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

11. Since rebellion against God was at the root of this act of
murder, let us all fear such rebellion in our own hearts, and turn
from it, and embrace the grace of God in Christ, and renounce the
very impulses that caused this tragedy.

Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do
not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him, And He will make your paths straight."

Psalm 9:10. "And those who know Your name will put their trust
in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You."

Psalm 56:3. "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You."

12. Point the living to the momentous issues of sin and
repentance in our own hearts and the urgent need to get right with
God through his merciful provision of forgiveness in Christ, so
that a worse fate than death will not overtake us.

Luke 13:1-5. "Now on the same occasion there were some present
who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had
mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, 'Do you
suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other
Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but
unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose
that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed
them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I
tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise
perish.'"

Revelation 9:18-21. "[As a judgment of God] a third of mankind
was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and
the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. . . . The rest
of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of
the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the
idols . . . and they did not repent of their murders nor of their
sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts."

Revelation 16:8-9. "The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon
the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. Men were
scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who
has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to
give Him glory."

13. Remember that even those who trust in Christ may be cut
down like these thousands who were in New York and Washington, but
that does not mean they have been abandoned by God or not loved by
God even in those agonizing hours of suffering. God's love conquers
even through calamity.

Romans 8:35-39. "Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, 'FOR YOUR
SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG, WE WERE CONSIDERED AS
SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.' But in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor
any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

14. Mingle heart-wrenching weeping with unbreakable confidence
in the goodness and sovereignty of God who rules over and through
the sin and the plans of rebellious people.

Lamentations 3:32 "For if He causes grief, Then He will have
compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does
not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men."

Genesis 45:7 [Joseph said to his brothers who sinfully sold him
into Egypt] "God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant
in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance."

Genesis 50:20 [Joseph says to his fearing brothers] "As for you,
you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to
bring about this present result, to preserve many people
alive."

15. Trust God for his ability to do the humanly impossible, and
bring you through this nightmare and, in some inscrutable way,
bring good out of it.

Romans 8:28. "And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose."

Lamentations 3:21-24. "This I recall to my mind, Therefore I
have hope. The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His
compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your
faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I
have hope in Him.'"

2 Corinthians 1:8-9. "For we do not want you to be unaware,
brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were
burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired
even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves
so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the
dead."

2 Corinthians 4:17. "Momentary, light affliction is producing
for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison."

16. Explain, when the time is right, and they have the
wherewithal to think clearly that one of the mysteries of God's
greatness is that he ordains that some things come to pass which he
forbids and disapproves of.

The clearest example is his ordaining that his Son be
killed.

Acts 4:27-28. "Truly in this city there were gathered together
against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to
occur."

See the Appendix titled "Are There Two Wills in God? Divine
Election and God's Desire for All to Be Saved," in The Pleasures of
God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Press, 2000), pp. 313-340.

17. Express your personal cherishing of the sovereignty of God
as the ground of all your hope as you face the human
impossibilities of life. The very fulfillment of the New Covenant
promises of our salvation and preservation hang on God's
sovereignty over rebellious human wills.

Mark 10:24. "The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus
answered again and said to them, 'Children, how hard it is to enter
the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' They
were even more astonished and said to Him, 'Then who can be saved?'
Looking at them, Jesus said, 'With people it is impossible, but not
with God; for all things are possible with God.'"

Jeremiah 32:40. "I will make an everlasting covenant with them
that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will
put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away
from Me."

Hebrews 13:20-21. "Now the God of peace, who brought up from the
dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the
eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good
thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His
sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.
Amen."

18. Count God your only lasting treasure, because he is the
only sure and stable thing in the universe.

Psalm 73:25-26. "Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You,
I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God
is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

19. Remind everyone that to live is Christ and to die is
gain.

Philippians 1:21-23. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is
gain. . . . I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the
desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much
better."

2 Corinthians 5:7-9. "We walk by faith, not by sight - we are of
good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body
and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our
ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him."

20. Pray that God would incline their hearts to his word, open
their eyes to his wonders, unite their hearts to fear him, and
satisfy them with his love.

Psalm 90:14. "O satisfy us in the morning with Your
lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our
days."

21. At the right time sound the trumpet that all this good news
is meant by God to free us for radical, sacrificial service for the
salvation of men and the glory of Christ. Help them see that one
message of all this misery is to show us that life is short and
fragile and followed by eternity, and small, man-centered ambitions
are tragic.

Acts 20:24. "But I do not consider my life of any account as
dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry
which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the
gospel of the grace of God."

Titus 2:14. "[Christ] gave Himself for us to redeem us from
every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own
possession, zealous for good deeds."

Philippians 1:21. "To live is Christ."

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

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